Create Your Own Art on The Fourth Plinth

The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is an empty pedestal that has been empty since 1841. For the past 8 years there has been a changing exhibition of different sculptures on it, created by contemporary artists, each on display for almost a year (pictured bottom left). The latest exhibition will be created by Anthony Gormley.

Called "One & Other", members of the public will stand on the plinth 24 hours a day,over 100 days. Each person will take a one-hour shift. Gormley calls it "a portrait of the UK now, using the fourth plinth as a lens."image from One & Another

Now is the time to apply, if you live in the United Kingdom. The show starts on July 6, 2009 and runs for a hundred days. There are 2,400 slots, and they will be picked proportionally and then randomly by computer. There will be 24 hour web streaming and a weekly t.v. show. Members of the public can vote for their favourite "acts" on a website.

image from Guardian

So what to do. Says Gormley: "what you do is entirely up to you. It is an open space for an open world for the democratisation of art." He wants people to "express their hopes and fears for what is possible now." Already people are writing about what they would do: sit on an easy chair and watch the world go by, read Paradise Lost, talk on their mobile phone as a symbol of London. "It will be an experiment," says Gormley, "I imagine that there will be extroverts who will see this as an opportunity to do the biggest party trick ever. But I have no expectations. I would be absolutely happy if somebody got up there with an umbrella and just stood still for an hour. The idea is that this will be a portrait of Britain made out of 2,400 hours of 2,400 people's lives."